by Ashlee Price
She looked passed me and seemed to notice the man standing behind me as more than my most recent excuse for a boyfriend. Usually I didn’t bring men home, so she had to know that it was unlikely. “Billy, how are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Elna moved to give the tall man a hug and he wasn’t stiff around her like he was with me. It seemed like a natural things between them and I realized he did know her well. It made me wonder why I had only just now met him. The whole afternoon we had talked for hours and though it seemed as if the time had flown by, now I was feeling strangely like an outsider. He also seemed to know my other brothers as well. Where had I been?
“So you are getting my daughter drunk huh?”
“No man, she got me drunk.”
“Yeah that sounds like her. Where is Marcus?”
“He is down at the hospital with Leanna.”
Elna nodded, expecting as much. “Dear, call your brother and tell him to get down here. We have some things to talk about while I have most of you under the same roof.”
I agreed, pulling out my phone. I was not expecting her to have another family meeting that evening and whenever we had one, there was always changing coming. I half-expected her to say that she was stepping down from the business again, though I didn’t know who would want to take over her job. None of the family was into the city life and even mom had times where she didn’t want to be in the fast paced life either. Was sure that it was what it was going to be.
There was a feeling of apprehension when I came back in and there was a small meeting already going on at the table.
“I just think that it is time that the family move in a different direction. There is a lot of work to be done and we could all walk away from this place, have more money than we knew what to do with.”
Paul was the first to shake his head no. He didn’t want to sell the ranch, the rest of the business he didn’t care about, but I had to agree. The ranch couldn’t go. “We have enough money as it is mom. I don’t think anyone here is worried about a little extra money to get rid of our home.”
Mom sighed and I knew that she had to see the conversation going where she had feared it would go. She had to know that we weren’t going to let her sell it. We all had shares in the family business and though she had a substantial amount more, my mind was already doing the math as hers had. There were more of us and if all five of us there agreed, she would not pass a motion. We ran the company and though she was the one on the top floor, we were just as adamant and stubborn as she was. All of us kids got it from her and I could see in her eyes that she saw the fight coming.
I wanted to alleviate the situation. There was Marcus as the wildcard, but I didn’t think he was really willing to give up the ranch. It was where we came when something important happened. Weddings took place there, every good childhood memory revolved around that swath of land and I just hoped that his time out in the ocean hadn’t made him forget what the ground was like under his feet.
“I just think we need to think about it. I don’t want you to have to do what I have started. This was mine and your father’s dream.”
She stopped and we could all she her getting emotional. It wasn’t so unlike her, but it was genuine. Mom wore her heart on her sleeve and I decided that maybe it was the way that I could make her see reason. But why did she need money suddenly? It had me curious more about the reason why she wanted this change. People will usually answer your questions if you just listen to them and I was trying to listen to her, see what was really said in between what was actually coming out of her mouth.
“But it is no longer my dream to stay here. I will always think fondly of this place, but I think it is time to move on.”
There was more, I could tell, but she was not keen to go on. I could tell by Marcel’s face that he knew he was going to have to step up. If she was wanting out, for whatever reason it may be, Marcel would be the one to take over the business. Paul and Scott wanted the land we were on, while Marcel had already proven that he could do it if necessary. If he actually wanted to do it was unclear, but I could see that he was mulling the idea around in his head. “I just don’t get why you want to sell. If you are ready to go on to something else, I will take over.”
She kind of smiled at him with a sad look on her face. “I know you don’t want to do that Marcel.”
“But I would rather only come here on the weekends, then not have this place to come home to at all.”
There was agreement from Scott and Paul. They were the three that were always at the ranch. I came when I could, but I felt the same way about it. I couldn’t think of a time when I couldn’t come to the ranch and ride my horse or even muck out the stalls. I didn’t want to think of a time when it was no longer what happened. I needed the ranch just as much as Marcel did. It was all of our memories here and I wanted to keep the tradition going. Marcel in particular, with his wife pregnant, wanted to raise another generation there at the ranch. Why couldn’t she see that?
“I have to agree with Marcel mom. I can start doing the books here. Never really cared for my job anyways. That will shore up some of the time that he has to spend in the city.”
She was getting upset in a way. It was not going how she had planned and then the front screen door bang shut and I was happy to see Marcus there. There was no way that he was going to let it stand and once that was known, there was no way she could sell. I hated the very idea of strong-arming my own mother. It made me pause and wonder if it was the wrong move. There was something else there and I just didn’t know what it was.
“Marcus. Glad to see you here.” Elna stood up and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. She asked about Caston like we were not just having the same discussion that we had before.
When Marcus sat down and felt the tension in the room, he wanted to know what was going on. I was sick of even talking about it, so I figured I would put it out there. My brothers were always less inclined to go against mother for some reason. I had always figured it was because of them being men, but I was not so inclined to feel the same way about it. What she wanted to do was wrong and it seemed to come out of nowhere. I looked over at Billy and groaned inwardly that he had to be there for all of the family drama. He must be one of us for mom to even have the discussion with him there.
“So why is everyone looking like they are ready to fight?”
“Mom is trying to talk us into selling the business and the ranch.”
Marcus’ head snapped around to look at Elna. He felt the way the rest of us did and it was clear that he hadn’t known about it either.
“What? You have got to be joking? Right?”
“No son. I think it is time to move on and let everyone else find their own path. You have gotten into drilling and aren’t even part of the business anymore. Your other brother is in South America and Lord only knows when he will be back on whatever adventure he is on. It’s time.”
Marcus was like the rest of us, not buying it. “If you need cash mom, just sell some stock. I am sure many of us here will absorb the cost to keep it out of the hands of someone else.”
She seemed surprised by the answer that he came up with almost immediately. If I was honest, I hadn’t seen that coming either. It was a perfect solution, but she didn’t seem relieved to have that off of her shoulders. “No, that won’t work.” Elna was adamant. “This is not the way it is supposed to go. I am your mother and I want to sell. We have to sell.”
“Why do we have to sell?”
The question came from Paul and he looked at her suspiciously. I too, was starting to think that there was much more there than I had previously thought. Why would we have to move? It didn’t make sense. She had enough money and there was enough of an opposition that she should just let it go. There was something amiss with it all and I didn’t think I was the only one that felt that way.
Elna paused and then I could see her pulling herself in. Her face changed, covering up the emotions and she just said tha
t it had to be that way. I wanted to ask more questions, but she was making it clear that she didn’t want to have the discussion.
No one else said anything while everyone picked at the food on their plate. Our mother was an excellent cook and roast was almost everyone’s favorite, but no one was feeling very hungry at that moment. “Let’s just talk about this tomorrow. I want all of you to think about it. Really think about if this is where you want to be.”
I couldn’t help but say what I think everyone at the table was thinking. “I don’t have to think about it. There are enough votes at this table to oppose you. You were the one that made us go public, so now we hold the majority. You and Braxton do not carry enough, even if you could get him to agree.”
“He is already on board Gemma and you are my family. You should be behind me, not standing in my way.”
Chapter 7 – Elna
I was hurt in a way that my own daughter threatened to take the company hostage. She would do it too. I could see it in her eyes. Gemma always reminded me so much of myself and in that moment it was no different. I didn’t know if I was proud or furious. In honesty it was a little of both.
After dinner, no one felt much like talking and the damper in the air was so different than the jubilation everyone had felt at the hospital yesterday. I went to bed that night feeling like the worst mother in the world. I wish I could tell them why I wanted to sell their childhood home. I really didn’t have a choice, but I knew that it was going to be hard for them to understand. If I was truthful with myself, I didn’t understand why it had to be that way either, but I knew that there were very little choices in life sometimes. Now that I knew the truth.
I didn’t want to burden them with what I knew. I knew that they wouldn’t take it well, as I hadn’t. But there was too much at stake and with almost all of my children at home, I was thankful for that. The fact that one of my sons was out of the country was actually a good thing for once. Nothing could happen to him if he just stayed away long enough for me to figure it out.
If I had been able to just sell without their say, I already would have. But the thing was that my smart daughter pointed out, a mathematical impossibility. I did have Braxton’s okay to sell, he was actually the one that pushed the sale to begin with. I was more than happy to stay at the company and the ranch the rest of my life. It had always been what me and my late husband had thought was going to happen. I just didn’t know that it was going be the way it had turned out.
I had hoped that the kids would just go with it. I was their mother after all, but apparently I had raised them to have their own mind and they weren’t going for it.
Tossing and turning all night, I had nightmares about what was going to happen if I didn’t get them to agree. I knew in my heart what was going to happen and I wouldn’t even bear the thought. I didn’t want anything to happen to my family. They were all I had left and nothing else really mattered.
***
“So?”
I sighed inwardly and swallowed hard. I had been dreading the call for some time, but I knew that it was going to come. He wanted results. Braxton wasn’t a patient man and the things he would do to get what he wanted were not hard to imagine. He would have his way, one way or another and I knew that I wasn’t going to like the way he chose. He was not going to be happy with my lack of progress.
“It didn’t go so well. I told you that they were going to resist it.”
“Well that is why I sent their mother to break the news to them. That was the whole point of this exercise. I could have come up with results already. Do I need to go to my way of doing things Elna? You know I am very good at making people see things my way.”
I blanched and looked away. He was in my office again and though I had done my best while I was at home, the children had banded together and the sale was not going to happen with their blessing. I couldn’t tell him that though. It would be the end of it.
“I just need more time Braxton, that’s all. It’s a lot for them. All of their memories of their father are there.”
“Is it worth them dying for it?”
Braxton was always like that. Even when he had first convinced my late husband to go into business together with him, Braxton had always been very pushy of his ideas. He was supposed to be a silent partner, but he had been pulling the strings all along. I know now that there was no way that I was going to be able to work things out with him. Braxton was the type to get his way. He had a lot of unsavory types that worked for him, but he was the type that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He enjoyed the dirt work and there was no way that I was going to let my family get dragged into all of that. There had to be another way and no matter what was happening at home, I had to keep them from it. That was all that I knew for sure.
“Stop saying that. Don’t you think you have done enough to me and my family? I don’t need to be constantly reminded of what you are capable of. I know what kind of monster you are.”
He tsked me and I wanted to hit him. As his hands moved up to my face, I pulled away. There had been a time, before I had known the truth and seen him for who he really was, that I would have melted in his arms. I had loved him at a time when I was most vulnerable, but now his very touch made me nauseated. I no longer loved him, but hated him with every fiber of my being. What he had done to me was enough to hate him for the rest of my life.
Pulling my head back to break the contact of his hand on my face, he made this low chuckling sound in the back of his throat that was almost as bad as his hand on me. He didn’t seem to be bothered by my move, but actually further amused that he was making me so uncomfortable.
“Then stop treating me like I am your husband. I will not take your sharp tongue Elna, so you need to make better choices in the way that you talk to me.”
I nodded my head and I hated the fact that I knew there was fear in my eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I knew that it wasn’t supposed to be like that and all I felt for him was numbness and fear. Nothing good was going to come from this all.
“I will do the best I can Braxton. Please stop threatening the kids. They are all I have left. You made sure of that.”
“Then remember what I can do. I will not hesitate with the children. You have to remember that your husband was my best friend and if I will do that to him, imagine what I will do to those I care nothing about. You don’t think.”
“Just give me some more time. I will go back down there this weekend and try again.”
He shook his head and I could tell that he wanted to touch me. He had a look of desire in his eyes and I couldn’t believe that he could look that way in a time like this. How could he be thinking about sex at the same time he was threatening to kill my kids? And it was all for what, a few extra dollars?
“That’s not going to be good enough, though if you do me a favor, maybe I will return it, but I am not going to make any promises.”
I knew there was no half ground with him and even if there was a chance that I could get more time, there was no way that I could be nice to him in the way that he was wanting. I could never be with him or look at him in that way again. Why couldn’t he see that?
“No favors. Just give me a couple of days, please.”
“No, you have until tomorrow evening at this time to make them see your way. If not, well you know what is going to happen.” His hand came out as I backed away from him and he pulled me close to him, my body flinging against his hard chest. “And don’t act like you have a choice Elna. If I wanted you bad enough, I would just take it.”
His mouth came down on mine and what had once given me such pleasure, now made me feel repulsed and there was nothing I could do about it. He was too strong and too ruthless. Braxton always got his way.
Chapter 8 – Gemma
I couldn’t believe mom and it seemed even stranger that after all that had happened, she was more worried about what everyone else thought, than her own kids. She had apparently already talked to Braxton ab
out selling, though I wondered if he had thought of it first. But if that were the case, mom wouldn’t have been so adamant about it I don’t think.
“I am sorry you had to hear all of that, Billy. I guess you just got slammed right into the middle of all of that the other night.”
He shrugged. “I never really had any family, so it is interesting to me. But I have never seen your brother so upset before. Are you sure everything is alright with Elna? She didn’t seem herself at the end there. I would have never thought that she would want to sell the business. She has always seemed so happy when me and Marcus would visit her in the city.”
I nodded, it was exactly how I felt, but all of us were just left there with our mouths open and wondering what had just happened. It was not like my mother at all and I had to think that there was something else going on, something else amiss in all of it.
“So when do you go back out on the platform?”
“I got another week actually. I was only going to take a week off, but I figured that the weather has been so nice and the days so interesting, that I was think of staying another week. You don’t mind do you?”
I didn’t mind. He had been a nice companion to have around and though I figured that he would be put off with the family drama, it didn’t seem to bother him in the least bit. Billy had even been helping me with some of the chores around the ranch. I had decided to go ahead and do what I had said I would do at the table. I quit my job the next day and it had afforded us all the time in the world to get to know each other.
Marcus had been pushing me towards him and even with everything going on at the ranch and Leanna, he still had time to play matchmaker, though he wasn’t very discreet about it. He kept leaving us alone, like today when we were off on a slow ride on the horses. It was getting later and the sun was starting to go down on the right side of us.
“Of course I don’t mind if you stay. I think I would rather take some more time off as well. I just quit my job and I feel like I should do something before I start work at the ranch. Is Marcus staying off for another week too?”